The present invention relates to the process of making fractal tubes.
Hollow carbon fibers only one atom layer in wall thickness and measured to be 12 Angstroms thick are disclosed by Bethune et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,054. There is no process taught to employ fractal engineering to build the walls of larger tubes from these fibers and then to build the walls of cylinders out of these tubes as a means to build support members. It is desirable to develop a process for making support members for construction in this fractal manner because of the expected low density and low weight and high strength-to-weight ratio of members so made. Yakobsaon and Smalley in American Scientist, vol.85, p332 (August 1997) disclose the experimental evidence that the strength of ropes made from hollow carbon nanotubes is expected to be 100 times stronger than steel and top 130 gigapascals at only one-sixth the weight of steel.
The advantage of a process that minimizes mass while maintaining order in construction is explained by the quantum atomic compressibility law, E=3h.sup.2 /8ml.sup.2, which says that the strength with which an atom or molecule resists compression is proportional to the product of its mass and the square of its diameter. This principle is taught in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,724 in which the field of Fractal Microengineering is introduced. Therefore, there is a need to provide such a process to enable the construction of materials that are stronger than steel, yet much less dense than water.